The “ War of the Cities” refers to a set of actions carried out by an enemy against a country’ s vital, sensitive, and important centers and its civilian population. It aims at destroying or undermining national morale and will, forcing the people to give in, or imposing the enemy’ s will on them.

The term “ War of the Cities” was first used in early 1985, midway through the Iran-Iraq War. Before that, it was simply referred to as the bombing of residential areas. The word “ cities” here refers to residential, civilian, commercial, and cultural areas.⁠[1]

The War of the Cities is one of the most effective methods of projecting military power. It is carried out using air forces (fighter jets, bombers, helicopters, and similar assets), long-range artillery, and sometimes missile platforms — including short-, medium-, and long-range missiles — targeting the opposing side’ s general population, residential areas, and economic infrastructure with the aim of wearing down its will and imposing one’ s own. It has deep psychological roots and has been described as the worst form of psychological warfare.⁠[2] Under international law, shelling and bombing residential areas is prohibited, and the commission of crimes against civilians constitutes a war crime.

The War of the Cities, in the sense of bombing and shelling residential areas, began on April 2, 1979, when an Iraqi helicopter violated the airspace of the Bahramabad customs post in Mehran. Iraqi air and artillery attacks continued in limited form alongside border clashes, and on April 6, 1980, heavy Iraqi artillery fire resulted in the injury of fifteen civilians in Qasr-e Shirin.⁠[3]

Iraq’ s full-scale invasion of Iran began with an aerial assault at 2 PM on September 22, 1980, targeting Tehran and other Iranian cities. In addition to aircraft, enemy long-range artillery also opened fire on Iran’ s border cities.⁠[4]

From the opening days of the war, many Iranian cities, including Abadan, Khorramshahr, Dezful, Ilam, Mehran, Dehloran, Andimeshk, and Shush, came under Iraqi aerial bombardment and artillery and missile fire. In the early hours of October 9, 1980, when three Frog-7 missiles struck residential areas, the war took on a new dimension. This type of attack subsequently became one of the Baathist regime’ s core military strategies.⁠[5]

Iraq typically launched attacks on cities in retaliation for Iranian operations on the frontlines.⁠[6] Iraq’ s objectives in waging the War of the Cities were to undermine popular morale, neutralize Iran’ s successful operations or compensate for its own defeats, weaken Iran’ s economic capacity, push Iran toward negotiations and an end to the war, reduce the flow of volunteer fighters to the front, intensify the war of attrition, increase the influence of major powers in the conflict, and create greater grounds for external intervention in the war.⁠[7]

Concurrent with Operation Beit al-Muqaddas, which ran from April 30 to May 24, 1982, west of the Karun River, Iraqi artillery shelled Abadan while the Iraqi air force struck Kharg Island for the first time. After the operation and the liberation of Khorramshahr, border cities from Piranshahr to Khorramshahr came under heavy enemy fire. Ilam and Kermanshah were also attacked. When Operation Ramazan began on July 13, 1982, east of Basra, the Iraqi air force attacked Iranian cities seventeen times over eight days.⁠[8]

Iraq sought to paralyze Iran’ s oil-dependent economy by halting oil exports, and to turn the population — the war effort’ s greatest source of support — against continuing the fight. In this way, Iraq sought to force Iran to abandon its positions and accept a ceasefire.⁠[9] Medium-range missiles were deployed for the first time in 1983.⁠[10]

Attacks on Iran’ s border cities occurred repeatedly, yet Iran refrained from retaliating out of its own moral, humanitarian, and religious principles, and out of respect for international law.⁠[11] This inhumane Iraqi strategy continued through early 1983 and into the period before Operation Kheibar, with Iran maintaining its restraint throughout. But as the attacks persisted, Imam Khomeini (ra), on February 7, 1984, gave his approval for limited retaliation against Iraqi industrial, political, and military centers.⁠[12] For the first time, on February 13, 1984, Iran struck the cities of Basra, Mandali, and Khanaqin with artillery. Consequently, the two countries agreed to halt attacks on civilian cities. Nonetheless, in mid-1984, Iraq resumed attacks on central and southern Iranian cities. In response, Iranian President Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (ra) announced on June 5, 1984, that the Islamic Republic had no choice but to retaliate, and Iraqi border cities, including Basra, were subsequently shelled. After Iran’ s retaliation, at the request of the UN Secretary-General and with the agreement of both Iran and Iraq, it was decided that from June 12 onward, neither side would strike the other’ s residential areas — an agreement Iraq violated repeatedly.⁠[13] On February 24, 1984, following Operation Kheibar, which had begun on February 22 in the Hoor al-Hoveyzeh, Iraq resumed attacks on residential areas with a missile strike on Khorramabad.⁠[14]

Following its failure in the Kheibar operational zone and the shift in the balance of power in favor of the Islamic Republic of Iran, from May 1984, Iraq began a new approach by attacking cargo ships and oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.⁠[15]

In August 1984, Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi gifted Iran a Scud-B missile launcher along with thirty missiles. Thirty additional missiles were purchased from North Korea, and a SAM air defense site was also obtained from Libya.⁠[16]

On January 28, 1985, Iran formally complained to the United Nations over Iraq’ s violations of the non-attack agreement — but to no effect. In response to Iraqi strikes on Iranian cities, Iran for the first time targeted Kirkuk and Baghdad with missiles in 1984, seeking to deter Iraq from continuing its attacks on Iranian cities. These strikes continued until the end of the war.⁠[17]

By equipping itself with Soviet-made MiG-25s, the Iraqi army managed to break the sound barrier over Tehran in July 1984.⁠[18]

From 1985 to 1988, the War of the Cities was divided into seven phases. The first phase ran from March 1985 to April 6, 1985, during which Iran’ s first missile struck the Rafidain Bank in Baghdad (March 14, 1985) in response to Iraq’ s attack on Tehran.

The second phase started on May 26, 1985. The third phase began simultaneously with operations Karbala 4 (December 24– 26, 1986, in Abu al-Khasib) and Karbala 5 (January 9 to February 21, 1987), lasting until February 19, 1987. The fourth phase began on April 7, 1987, concurrent with Operation Karbala 8 (April 7– 11, 1987), and continued until late August 1987. The fifth phase initiated on September 9, 1987 — on the eve of UN Secretary-General Javier Pé rez de Cué llar' s visit to Tehran to press Iran to accept Resolution 598 — and lasted until November 18. The sixth phase started on February 27, 1988, with heavy bombardment of Tehran, and missile strikes began on March 1. The seventh phase was launched on April 10, 1988, and continued through late April.⁠[19]

In late January 1985, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (ra) said: “ From now on, we will respond in kind to every attack on our people, and if Saddam Hussein carries out his threats, we will certainly bomb the cities of Khanaqin, Basra, and Mandali. We sincerely express our regret to the people of these three cities and ask them to leave immediately”.⁠[20]

Before Operation Badr began, Iraq, on March 4, 1985, attacked the pipe manufacturing plant of the Ahvaz Oil Company and struck ten cities within one week.⁠[21]

In 1985, Iraqi attacks increased in both density and frequency, with central Iranian cities such as Arak, Qazvin, and Qom, and southern Caspian coastal cities including Rasht, Chalus, and Nowshahr all coming under air strike.

The UN Security Council issued a statement calling for a halt to attacks on cities and the use of chemical weapons, and the protection of international air routes.

In the spring of 1985, an assassination attempt was made on the Emir of Kuwait. Iraq used this as a pretext — claiming Iranian involvement — to launch 234 attacks on Iran in May and June. After Operation Valfajr 8, which was launched on the Al-Faw, a passenger aircraft carrying Sheikh Fazlollah Mahallati and eight members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly was struck by Iraqi missiles north of Ahvaz on February 20, 1986.⁠[22]

Iraqi attacks continued throughout 1986. Iran fired missiles at Kirkuk and Baghdad in July and August of that year.⁠[23] During September, October, and November 1986, industrial, labor, economic, and oil installations, as well as cities, residential areas, and operational zones, came under the heaviest enemy bombardment.⁠[24]

After Operation Karbala 5, Iraq launched 26 missile strikes against Iran. The Soviet Union played a key role in increasing Iraqi air attacks on Iranian cities by supplying Iraq with weapons. However, the attacks dropped sharply in intensity when Iran’ s foreign minister visited Moscow in early 1987.⁠[25]

As Operation Karbala 5 was underway, Iraqi fighter jets targeted Susangerd and Dezful on January 9, 1987. From early 1986, the Soviet Union had also begun supplying the Iraqi army with modern Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft.⁠[26]

In 1987, Iraq started its chemical attacks against Iran. It targeted Khorramshahr in April with cyanide bombs. Also, it attacked Baneh with chemical weapons in May. Iraq struck Sardasht with chemical weapons in July, which resulted in the martyrdom of 30 and injuries to 4,500.

The bombing of cities also restarted afterward and intensified through the end of the summer. The pace slowed somewhat through December, but escalated again in February when it carried out nineteen missile strikes against various targets. On March 2, 1988, Tehran was hit for the first time by Iraqi long-range missiles.⁠[27]

Missile attacks intensified further in April 1988. Even after Iran accepted the resolution, aerial attacks on Iranian cities continued until August 10, 1988.⁠[28]